Boston, Massachusetts (CNN) - Candace Brooks is a Democrat who voted for the losing candidate Tuesday. Yet she, too, is part of the Massachusetts Message.

"I literally stood over the ballot, and I was, like, almost Scott Brown," Brooks said over breakfast the morning after Republican Brown's stunning upset in the Massachusetts Senate race. "I was almost there."

Almost there - almost casting a Republican vote - a little more than a year after her enthusiasm for Barack Obama convinced her to switch from "unenrolled," or independent, to a registered Democrat.
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Democrats face a tough challenge moving forward with much of their agenda.

Washington (CNN) - Republican Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts has forced congressional Democrats and the White House to assess their agenda going forward.

The historic win in the solidly Democratic state has put the brakes on President Obama's and congressional Democrats' key legislative initiatives: health care reform, climate change and a second stimulus.

Obama's agenda already was in trouble before the GOP victory in Massachusetts, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

"The Massachusetts special election crystallized just how much trouble Obama's legislative agenda was in," he said. "The sense I got was that members prior to Christmas didn't really think that most of Obama's agenda was going to pass anyway after health care."